*Flyleaf Story Time*For awhile there I was keeping to my promise of updating the blog more frequently. Then life set in. If blogging were my daily job you'd have daily posts, but I have a daytime job that takes priority. Oh phooey! The past two weeks I've been preparing for parent-teacher conferences. The conferences in themselves aren't that bad, but the preparation takes my every waking moment. I've never been in the 2 year old room and I must say the seven portfolios I now have to keep up with versus the three I had become accustomed to in the infant room are much more daunting and time consuming. These children have better documentation of their short 2 year old lives than I have of my whole 29 years. Conferences aren't done yet, but the write-ups and portfolios are up to date, so I have more time to write about what I love, Edmund's adventures.
Yesterday Edmund and I hopped on over to story time at a relatively new independent bookstore in Chapel Hill, called Flyleaf. As a working mom I've always felt Edmund and I must be missing out on a childhood rite of passage. It seems every stay-at-home mom I know, and even those I don't know, live to take their children to story times. Because most story times occur during school hours, Edmund and I haven't had an opportunity to attend. Sure there's the occasional story time at Sea of Learning, but those are major events centered around characters. Thus, I've been looking for the quintessential story time for Edmund and I to attend ever since he demonstrated a love a reading.
Last month, the day after Edmund received his cherry flavored medicine, Edmund had a day at home with mom to fully recuperate. Edmund hadn't been on antibiotics for 24 hours, so he couldn't return to school, but he was well enough to attend a story time at Barnes and Noble. One of the employees read two books about trains while the majority of children in attendance ran around the store. Edmund will listen to any story, so he sat and enjoyed, oblivious to the chaos around him. The employee's reading left something to be desired. The "craft" that followed was a coloring sheet of a train, which Edmund had no interest in completing. If my early childhood professors had anything to say about the coloring sheets they would probably have collected them all and burned them.
I left the Barnes and Noble story time feeling better about not having the availability to take Edmund. Was it a waste of time? No. We were able to get out of the house for a few minutes after having been cooped up for days and Edmund got to hear a story. Could I have done a better job myself? Not to toot my own horn, but yes. Thus, when I found out about Flyleaf's new offering of a story time on Saturday I didn't have high hopes. Edmund and I went because Steven was working and I needed to get out of the house before I went stir-crazy.
There were only a handful of children at Flyleaf's first Saturday story time. I loved the intimate feel. I'm sure as word spreads the story time will fill up, but I must say it was nice to have a group of kids who truly wanted to listen to the books. The day's theme was sports and the employee, Sarah, had picked out three books for a variety of ages. The first book was slightly advanced for Edmund, but he listened just the same. Sarah was a great reader. She clearly had read the books beforehand and her enthusiasm for each and every book shone through. She did voices and if the books called for a little dance or cheer, she made up a little dance or cheer. The children were thoroughly engaged. When she finished reading, one little girl brought over a book about the potty. Sarah didn't turn her away, but added the book to her line-up. She knew the book and read it with just as much energy as she had the books she had prepared.
When she finished reading, Sarah led the children and parents into the conference room for a craft. The children were able to design their own pennants using foam flags, letters, and sports balls. Edmund got into this since the majority of balls were stickers. He also found an E sticker for Edmund to proudly display on his pennant. He especially liked that the big basketball he found required glue. He's all about the glue these days, and lots of it. There were indeed the prerequisite story time coloring sheets, which Edmund of course ignored, but the older girls who were present spent quite a bit of time coloring. I liked the fact the crafts truly met the theme and kids had the opportunity to be as creative as they wanted.
If we are able, Edmund and I will be back next month. Sarah told us that library science students from UNC will be practicing their story telling skills then. It sounds like a blast. We rounded out the morning with a trip to one of my favorite restaurants, Fosters, conveniently located right next to Flyleaf. By the time we finished with story time, the craft, and our own reading session in the children's section it was 11:00. The perfect time for a brunch at Foster's and the perfect way to end a morning out at story time.
Location: Flyleaf Books 752 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. (Historic Airport Rd.) Chapel Hill, NC 27514
For events and story time listings see link in posting.
*I apologize for yet another lack of an Edmund picture. I finally remembered the camera, but when I went to get a great shot of Edmund with his pennant I discovered the battery was completely dead.
